Chapter 21- Civil Rights: Equal Justice Under Law

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Transcript of Chapter 21- Civil Rights: Equal Justice Under Law

Chapter 21- Civil Rights: Equal Justice Under LawDiversity and Discrimination in American SocietyThe United States is a diverse nation made up of people from many different backgrounds and communities.Race-Based Discrimination African Americas, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans are four large minority groups that have suffered from discrimination at the hands of government and private individuals.Discrimination Against WomenWomen of all backgrounds experience discrimination in much the same way as members of racial and ethnic minorities.

Not a minority, actually a majority.

Women have been treated as less than equal in a great many matters--including, for example, property rights, education, and employment opportunities. Equality Before the LawThe law includes safeguards to protect Americans from unfair discrimination on the basis of race or sex. Segregation in AmericaSegregation- separation of one group from another.

Beginning in the late 1800s, nearly half of the States passes racial segregation laws. Graffiti BoardA Heterogeneous SocietyHeterogeneous- is a compound of two Greek words: heter, meaning "other or different," and genos, meaning, "race, family, or kind."

Something that is heterogeneous is composed of a mix of ingredients. "We the People of the United States" are a heterogeneous lot and we are becoming more so, year to year.

See chart on pg 595The Discrimination of African AmericansThree reasons for this focus:1. They are the second largest minority group in the U.S. Over 12% of all American people. 2. They have been victims of consistent and deliberate unjust treatment for a longer time than any other group of Americans. Slavery.3. The fight for equality. Civil Rights Act & Voting Rights Act. Asian AmericansAround 11 million.They represent a variety of languages, religions, and cultures, and many recent immigrants from Asia have little in common with one another. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 stopped the chinese from coming to America. This caused very little chinese, Japanese, and other Asians to come to the U.S. for more than 80 years. WWII- ordered evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent (120,000 people) to be removed to inland "war relocation camps."

Equal Protection ClauseStated in the 14th amendment, "No State Shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."Jim Crow LawsSupreme CourtBrown v. Board of EducationThis is where the supreme court started to chip away at the separate-but-equal doctrine.

Struck down many laws of four States requiring or allowing separate public schools for whites and African American students. It was deemed unconstitutional to be segregated by race in public schools. De Jure, De Facto SegregationSegregation by law, with legal sanction.

By 1970, it had been abolished. Classification by SexSince 1971, most laws that treat women differently from men have been successfully challenged in court.Native AmericansIn the 17th century, 1 million of them were living in territory that was to become the U.S. By 1900s, their number had fallen to less than 250,000. Disease brought by white settlers decreased the numbers along with the westward expansion of the U.S. 2.7 million Native Americans live in the U.S. More than a 3rd of them live on or near reservations. Hispanic AmericansMore than 40 million- largest minority group in the U.S.

Many of them seek refuge from war, persecution, or some other danger.

4 main groups: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central and South Americans. WomenWon the right to vote in 1920 but women have only held a fraction of 1% of the nation's top public offices since 1789. Today women hold little more than 10% of the 535 seats in Congress.

Women earn less than 80 cents for every dollar earned by working men.

See chart pg 598. Laws that separate people on the basis of their race. These were aimed at African Americans mostly. Created a separate-but-equal doctrine. This soon became the constitutional justification for segregation in several other fields, and it stood for nearly 60 years. Segregation in other fieldsThis nation has not achieved a complete integration of the public schools, but legally enforced racial segregation in all other areas of life has been eliminated. Get into groups of three.

Create a graffiti board illustrating your opinions about discrimination against women and African Americans in this country.

As always, be appropriate.

Civil Rights MovementCivil Rights Act of 1964 - outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national originAffirmative Action - the policy of providing special opportunities for, and favoring members of a disadvantaged groupJus soli (Latin: right of the soil), is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship.Jus sanguinis (Latin: right of blood) is a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth but by having one or both parents who are citizens of the state. Children at birth may automatically be citizens if their parents have state citizenship or national identities of ethnic, cultural or other origins